Advice: avoid looking for, making, or accepting excuses. Own and Grow from the situation. No one likes excuses. Keep making excuses you will probably be excused!!!
Parents of High School aged athletes: if your son is old enough to drive a car, he is old enough to be the one communicating with the coach. They need to learn this skill and take responsibility. Parents: funnel your questions through the player.
@SMUMustangs were my favorite teams growing up. Seeing them ranked #19 in football is so cool. My first college basketball and football games to attend were SMU. They do need a baseball team IMHO. 👊
Reflecting back on when I started coaching: Baseball is a platform to Make a difference, Change lives, Add value, Open doors, Build Leaders.
It’s why I coach nearly 30 years later.
Andy Reid says he’ll deliberately call out Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones in front of the Chiefs because the best players have to show everyone else that greatness doesn’t exempt you from coaching
“At times I’m going to go after guys. Very seldom, but I’ll go after Pat Mahomes. ‘You’re the best quarterback in football. You’ve got to be able to do this. I know you can. I’ve seen you do it.’”
“And that’s an example to the other guys that as great as he is, Chris Jones, as great as you are, Travis Kelce, as great as you are, there’s always room to be better.”
“To be great as a team, we’ve got to be able to do these things. And if you can do them, surely these other guys can that are trying to become as great as you.”
“I think it’s important to coach those star players in front of the rest of the group. But I’m not a belittler. I’m going to coach everybody. I’m going to try to give them things that help them become greater than they are.”
“It’s not belittling them because I think they’re trying to be great. They’re not doing things not to be great. But just a reminder: you’re as great as you are because you did this.”
I’m often asked “how’s the team looking” or “have a good recruiting class”…the real question should be, “do you have key leadership on the team” or “who are your leaders this season”. The leadership in the locker room determines the success on the field. Culture!
Advice for anyone that didn’t get the role they wanted…sometimes a “NO” is simply a “NOT YET”…grow as a person and professional between the “NO” and “NOT YET” and be ready for the YES!
What I wish I understood as a younger me: Failure is undefeated when striving for greatness. You will fail, just get back up! I’ve NEVER met someone that’s accomplished anything of significance that hasn’t failed along the way. Fail your way to making a difference, to changing lives, to winning, to GREATNESS!